. Sets Aside N250m To Fund Innovation
By Aaron Ukodie
Lagos state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu today in Lagos, unveiled his plan to make Lagos a smart city in the mode of Dubai, Singapore or London.
A smart city is sometimes defined as an urban development using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Internet of Things (IoT) to provide useful information to effectively manage resources and assets. This includes data collected from citizens and mechanical devices that are processed and analyzed to monitor and manage traffic and transport systems, power plants, water supply networks, waste disposal, etc.
The smart city aims to improve the quality of urban services or reduce its costs. It stands out for its specificities: smart management, lifestyle, mobility, housing, as well as a smart economy.
He hopes to achieve this dream through deployment of IT infrastructure, idea creation, innovation and partnering with the private sector to co-create and plan together.
The governor announced that he had set aside N250million seed money to encourage research and development, innovation and ideas creation, as part of his bid to achieve his smart city dream
The fund would be administered by a science, research and innovation council he has constituted.
The council would be chaired by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe.
Sanwo-Olu has also setting aside $687,000 start-up funds for investment in research and development of tech-focused solutions across the six pillars of his administration’s development agenda.
The Governor said the establishment of the Council and innovation funds officially began the process of implementing strategies that would help in the realisation of the Smart City initiative of the State.
Sanwo-Olu made the announcement at the on-going Art of Technology (AOT) Lagos 1.0 conference organised by the Office of the Governor’s Special Adviser on Innovation and Technology. No fewer than 1,500 young innovators and tech solutions developers are attending the event being held at Oriental Hotel on Victoria Island, with the theme: “Bridging the gap”.
The Governor said the innovation funds would also be directed to support Information and Communication Technology (ICT) research focusing on solving issues of national significance.
He said: “There is no gainsaying the fact that any society that wants to be reckoned with on the global stage must be grounded in the application of technology to growth and development. It is gratifying to note that the world has accepted that Lagos as the Silicon Valley of Africa with major investments by Microsoft and Google in the Ikeja-based Computer Village and emerging tech hubs, which have served as launch pads for the digital careers of numerous youths in software development.
“To further expand the opportunities, we are immediately earmarking seed capital of N250 million into Lagos State Science Research and Innovation Council to be accessed by tech entrepreneurs and software developers in innovation ecosystem for them to create various solutions from artificial intelligence to robotics, to health informatics and green energy.”
Besides, the Governor also launched Open Government Initiative, Innovation Master Plan and Lagos State Solution Hub to further drive synergy between policymakers in the public sector and innovators in the private sector.
While the Solution Hub is aimed at democratising access to state actors and serving as the first point of call for innovators, solutions providers and innovators on marketing their solutions, the Innovation Master Plan would be focusing on implementation of policies in four critical areas to unleash a culture of problem solving.
He also wants to address talents within the ICT ecosystem and encourage them to thrive, build infrastructure, through a broadband network and the funding of a mesh of Lagos Metropolitan fibre optic grid.
The Lagos fibre optics mesh would cover a total of 6000 kilometres, 3000 of that to be achieved in 2020 and the other 3000 in 2021, according to science and tech commissioner Akin Popoola Fahn
The state is also installing 2000 high definition cameras for safety and traffic management. They would also aid e-government.
According to him Lagos need efficient urban and traffic management, waste disposal and a robust IT infrastructure and connectivity.
Fahn said the vision of the Lagos Smart city is to create a community of new shared value initiative. Lagos, he said is on a journey to be a smart city and it can no longer do things the same way.
In his opening remark, special adviser to the governor on innovation and technology, Olatunbosun Alake said “if we want to keep up with the population growth and the changing times… we have to do things differently”.
He said the days when both government and the private sector did things in silos must stop, saying that both the public and the private actors must together to co-create and plan together.
Alake said working together and coordinating in an organized manner is what has been missing in efforts to develop both the state and the country.
